“It’s over,” Mya said quietly. “Dr. Warsaw will never bother you again.”
“We’re sorry about all the things you kids went through this summer,” said Bones. “We tried our best to protect you.”
“I know,” Pep said. “We wouldn’t be alive right now if it weren’t for you.”
“We’ll never forget you,” Coke said, sniffling.
The twins were about to walk away when another group of people approached—Mrs. Higgins, John Pain, and the bowler dudes. Instinctively, Coke and Pep backed away and prepared to make a run for it. But instead of attacking, the bowler dudes threw their arms around them.
“We’ll miss you kids,” said the clean-shaven bowler dude, tears running down his cheeks.
“In a strange way,” Coke replied, “I’m going to miss you, too.”
“It was fun trying to kill you,” said the mustachioed bowler dude.
Mrs. Higgins moved in for a hug and told the twins she would see them when school started in September. They thanked her for saving their lives in Death Valley, and driving them back to San Francisco.
“Let’s blow this pop stand,” Coke told his sister.
They would have to give a statement to the police, of course. And there was still the matter of getting home and returning to a normal, teenage life after all they had been through. That might take some getting used to. But The Genius Files program was over. With Dr. Warsaw out of the picture, Coke and Pep would never again have to worry about lunatics chasing them around and trying to kill them at any opportunity.
“You two were amazing!” Mrs. McDonald said, still reluctant to let go of her children.
“Now let me get this straight,” said Dr. McDonald. “That Warsaw guy has been chasing you ever since we left home?”
“Yes!” Pep said. “That’s what we’ve been trying to tell you all along!”
“We just thought you were putting us on,” Mrs. McDonald said. “You know, the way teenagers do.”
“It was all real, Mom,” Coke explained. “At first we didn’t want to worry you. Then, when we decided to tell you the truth, you wouldn’t believe us. But we’ve been almost frozen to death, boiled in oil, pushed into a sand pit—”
“Thrown into a vat of Spam, kidnapped, blasted with loud music—” added Pep.
“—swarmed by bats, abducted by aliens, sprayed with poison gas, had stuff dropped on our heads . . . ,” said Coke.
“And all of these things actually happened?” asked Dr. McDonald. “You didn’t make any of it up?”
“Yes, it all happened!” Pep shouted at him. “And a lot of other stuff, too. You could fill a—”
“Book!” Dr. McDonald said, his eyes suddenly wide. “This is it! This is the idea I’ve been searching for! I can write a novel about two kids who travel cross-country while some bad guys are trying to kill them the whole time! And their parents don’t know a thing about it! It can’t miss! This could be my bestseller!”
“That’s a great idea, Dad!” said Pep. “We’ll tell you exactly what happened.”
“Ben, I don’t know if it’s a good idea to put your name on that book,” said Mrs. McDonald. “How will the university feel if one of their respected professors publishes a crazy novel like that? You could lose your job.”
“What if you used a pen name, Dad?” Pep suggested. “Then nobody would know it was you.”
After some discussion, Dr. McDonald came up with a pen name. Coke and Pep told their father everything that had happened to them since they started the trip. There was so much information that he was able to make it into a five-book series, which he called the Genius Files. And guess what happened after the first book was published?
ABOUT THE PHOTOS
Most of the photographs in this book were taken by Dan Gutman, or created by Nina Wallace (Dan’s wife). But for three photos, we must give credit where credit is due. The photos of the earth here and the moon here are from NASA. The image of radio telescopes here is courtesy of NRAO/AUI.
BACK AD
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo by Howard Wolf
DAN GUTMAN is the author of the Baseball Card Adventure series, which has sold more than 1.5 million copies, and the My Weird School series, which has sold more than 8 million copies!
Thanks to his many fans who voted in their classrooms, he has received nineteen state book awards and ninety-two state book award nominations. Dan Gutman lives in Haddonfield, New Jersey, with his wife, Nina, and their two children, Sam and Emma.
You can visit him online at www.dangutman.com.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
CREDITS
Cover art © 2015 by Tim Jessell
Cover design by Sarah Nichole Kaufman
Series design by Erin Fitzsimmons
COPYRIGHT
THE GENIUS FILES #5: LICENSE TO THRILL. Copyright © 2015 by Dan Gutman. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gutman, Dan.
License to thrill / Dan Gutman.
Summary: “Tween twins Coke and Pepsi McDonald have finally reached the last leg of their wacky and dangerous cross-country road trip, but they must fend off a host of strange assassins before they reach their home in California”— Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-0-06-223632-6
EPub Edition December 2014 ISBN 9780062236340
[1. Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. 2. Genius—Fiction. 3. Brothers and sisters—Fiction. 4. Twins—Fiction. 5. Assassins—Fiction. 6. Recreational vehicles—Fiction. 7. Family life—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.G9846Li 2015
2014022043
[Fic]—dc23
CIP
AC
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Art by Erin Fitzsimmons
14 15 16 17 18 CG/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
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www.harpercollins.com
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